Academic surveys

Put your theories to the test. Sound survey data makes your research conclusions stronger and more compelling, providing direct evidence to support or refute your claims.

Academics can use surveys to test hypotheses about attitudes and behaviors in a range of domains: business, politics, health, and more! Have a new program of research? Pretest your intuitions with open-ended questions first and get rich qualitative data. For longitudinal research, repeated survey measures can help you establish a baseline and track changes over time.

Moreover, the online medium allows you to survey people around the world instead of having to bring them in. It also eliminates the hassle of entering data from a pencil and paper survey, saving you time and money. When you use SurveyMonkey, your data downloads directly to Excel or SPSS.

How to use surveys in academic research

Pretesting

Going to launch a large-scale or costly project? Make sure you’ve worked all the kinks out of your survey first before you take the plunge. Testing your methodology with an online survey and a convenience sample first can help you catch any errors or confusion early on, saving you time and money.

Sample smarter

Before you test your hypothesis, hone your method for outreach to your target population. What’s the best way to reach them? By mail or email? Are they regular Internet users? Do they use smartphones? Are they on social networks? With this information, you can get your sample quicker, cheaper, and easier.

Longitudinal studies

Want to research the long-term impact of public health awareness programs, economic policy, energy practices, and more on specific groups of people? Use surveying to obtain baseline data and regular updates.

Field training and development

Use surveys to obtain feedback and assessments at places where you intern or train to gain valuable insight on the “way you show up” in the professional world. Use the feedback you receive on your practicum, internship, graduate student research, lab work, or student teaching to guide your continued skills development.

Sample academic research survey templates

Here are some ways in which you can use surveys to support specific areas of study and academic research.

Healthcare and medical research

Explore patient demographics, behaviors, access to healthcare, gender health issues, community outreach programs, and more. SurveyMonkey has an extensive selection of Healthcare questionnaire and Medical Research survey templates for you to drag and drop into your survey, including the PHQ-9, the standard means of evaluating depressive tendencies.

Healthy lifestyles and behavioral studies

Child development and education studies

Use templates from SurveyMonkey’s collection of Education, School, and Academic Online survey templates for research projects on family and school relationships, educational outcomes, school climate, online learning programs, student satisfaction, and more. Leverage templates such as the Harvard Graduate School of Education Pre K-12 Parent survey for parents’ detailed feedback on their children’s education experience.

Psychology and political science

Correlate attitudes and approaches of specific population groups with perspectives on a range of experiences and issues—from social networking to media consumption, political views to social identity, and more.

Demographic data

Use SurveyMonkey Audience for help in reaching the target audiences for your research, and build relevant, real-world data into your research proposals or business plans. SurveyMonkey has a ready-to-use template of demographics verified by our staff methodologists that you can add to any survey to make sure you know who you’re looking at.